Tag Archives: novel

A chance encounter in the pavilion and a suitable boy

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I HAVE NEVER MET the Indian author, Vikram Seth, who wrote the long novel “A Suitable Boy”, but today, 30 July 2026, my wife and I met his sister, Aradhana, quite by chance while visiting the beautiful brickwork Serpentine Pavilion in London’s Kensington Gardens.

In about 1968, my wife was awarded a scholarship to study for her A-Levels (university entrance examinations) in the UK. That year, she was not the only one to receive such an award, which allowed her to travel from India to study in England. Another awardee that year was Vikram Seth, now a renowned author.

In 1994, a few months before my first ever visit to India, my then fiancé, now my wife, suggested that I read Vikram Seth’s “A Suitable Boy” because it might have helped me to ‘acclimatise’ to Indian ways of life before I arrived in the country. The book, first published in 1993, is well over 1400 pages long. Dutifully, I began reading it, but then little of it made much sense to me, and I gave up reading the book by the time I reached page 300. Thereafter, I have not touched the book until this month, July 2026.

Since 1994, I have visited India at least 50 times, often for long sojourns, and have become familiar with many aspects of life in the country. A few days ago, I started reading “A Suitable Boy”, and I am finding it both enjoyable and incredibly engaging. Much of what Seth has written makes much more sense to me than it did in 1994. And despite it being published without a glossary, many of the Hindustani words (transliterations of Devanagari and Urdu scripts) now mean something to me.

Seth has managed to write an epic novel whose pages contain a brilliant portrait of life in certain social circles in India. Although I have only just passed page 230 (in four short episodes of reading), I feel that by the end of the following few weeks, I will have read the whole book.

Meeting Vikram Seth’s sister by chance was only one part of an amazing encounter today. My wife thought she looked vaguely familiar, and that is why we engaged her in conversation. It turned out that Aradhana and my wife had attended the same school, Loreto House, in Kolkata (Calcutta), and although they differ in age, their times at the school overlapped. In addition, Aradhana, was with her friend, Amrit, whose father, we discovered, had worked in the same company as my wife’s father.

Although India’s population is about one and a half billion, I am always amazed how often we ‘bump into’ Indians, with whom my wife can find some not too distant connection.

Getting a lift up at Leicester Square

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ALDOUS HUXLEY published his novel “Point Counter Point” in 1928.

In the first chapter of the book, Walter takes an Underground train from Chalk Farm station to Leicester Square station. When he arrives there:

“He stepped out on to the platform and made his way towards the lifts.”

When I read the word ‘lifts’ (elevators in US English), I was puzzled.

I have been using Leicester Square Station since the early 1960s, and never noticed lifts from the platform to street level. As long as I can remember, passengers use escalators, not lifts. Had Huxley got it wrong – unlikely – or were there once lifts at the station?

Out of curiosity, I consulted that font of all knowledge Wikipedia. From their article about the station (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leicester_Square_tube_station), I learned that it had lifts at the time when Huxley wrote his novel. In the 1930s when the usage of the station began to increase significantly, it was rebuilt to accommodate escalators, which replaced the lifts. As for the now unnecessary, Wikipedia revealed:

“ The redundant lifts were removed but the lift shaft remains in use as a ventilation shaft hidden behind a small door on the first landing of the Cranbourn Street entrance stairs. The redeveloped station opened in 1935.”

So, as the saying goes, ‘there you have it’. Until the 1930s, lifts operated at Leicester Square Station. I would have been unlikely to know that has I not started reading “Point Counter Point”.

A novel by an author from South Africa: Damon Galgut

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MRS SWART IS DYING, lying on her bed in a farmhouse in South Africa during the last years of the apartheid regime. Her husband and three children are close by. One of her daughters, Amor, hears, or believes she has heard, her mother promising that Salome, the family’s African maid, will be bequeathed the small outhouse in which she lives. Mrs Swart dies. Nobody else remembers hearing that Salome has been promised that she could own her humble abode, and she is not given possession of it. Many years go by, apartheid ends, and one by one Amor’s father, her brother, and her sister die. Yet, still Salome has not been given ownership of her residence on the farm. Amor, who has largely dissociated herself from her family, becomes the sole inheritor of the family’s farm after her father and siblings have died. Without giving away too much of the story, she honours the promise that her mother made, but what should have been a straightforward happy ending turns out not to be. In between the events I have mentioned, much more takes place, as is revealed in “The Promise”, an excellently written novel published in 2021 by South African author Damon Galgut.

Galgut’s novel contains vivid descriptions of peoples’ lives and their difficulties in South Africa before and after the apartheid regime ended in 1993. In his novel, the personalities of the various people in it are described brilliantly. In addition, he portrays the troubles, physical and psychological, that South Africans must face daily even after the end of apartheid. Reading this book has reinforced what I had already heard about South Africa being a country filled with its own distinctive range of problems.

I believe that Galgut’s novel is a metaphor for what has happened to South Africa after the death of apartheid, a regime that severely suppressed the non-white majority of South Africans. When apartheid eventually ended, many South Africans must have believed and hoped that they had been promised, and could expect, a better life, one from which each person would derive benefit. Sadly, for many, just as Mrs Swart’s promise to Salome was fulfilled but unsatisfactorily, the assumed promise of an improved life post-apartheid has not been fulfilled entirely satisfactorily (if at all) for most of the country’s population.

“The Promise” is the third of Galgut’s novels that I have read to date. Each of the three is beautifully written, interesting, compelling, and moving. Of the three, “The Promise” has appealed to me most, but only a little bit more than the other two (“The Good Doctor” and “Arctic Summer”).

A novelist in Burma when it was a colony of Britain

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AT PRESENT I AM revising and editing my latest book, which is about travelling in India and will be called “Road To Heaven – A passage through India “. While writing the text I came across a quote by the author George Orwell. I am incorporating this in my forthcoming book. The words come from Orwell’s novel “Burmese Days”, which I decided to read.

The novel is set in a small town in Burma while the country was still part of British India. The author provides the reader with an exciting story that is also a jaundice view of the behaviour of the British, the Burmese, and the Chinese living in colonial Burma.

The story’s hero is Mr Flory, who loves Burma but finds it difficult to get on with the few repellent sounding Brits with whom he has to socialise at the town’s ‘whites’ only club.

“Burmese Days” contains many ingredients that make for a good story: romance, unrequited love, intrigues, treachery, rebellion, adventure, and good evocation of ‘atmosphere’. Based on his own experiences in Burma, it is also Orwell’s criticism of the British colonial system. Published in 1934 while the British still controlled Burma, it must have been frowned upon by many British readers when it was published.

I enjoyed the book, and found it difficult to put down.

A novel set in South Africa after the end of apartheid

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TO ENHANCE RACIST policies, the apartheid government of South Africa set up a series of ‘homelands’. These were areas in less desirable parts of the country in which black African people were ‘encouraged’ or compelled to set up homes. Notionally self-governing, these territories were, in reality, black ghettos, often impoverished. “The Good Doctor”, a novel  by Damon Galgut, who was born in South Africa, (published 2003) is set after the end of apartheid in a run-down, almost deserted, god-forsaken town in what had been a former homeland close to one of South Africa’s borders.

Most of the novel’s action is centred on the town’s under-staffed, poorly equipped, almost unused hospital. Frank is a doctor, who has been working there for several years. He seems quite content with the boring, uneventful life he has been experiencing while working there. Everything begins to change when Laurence, a young and idealistic doctor, arrives to spend a year at the hospital. He wants to make changes, to give the almost moribund hospital more of a sense of purpose.

Frank is obliged to share his quarters with Laurence, and inevitably they get to know each other well. Following Laurence’s arrival, a series of events begins to affect both Frank and his young room-mate. These occurrences, which Galgut relates beautifully, disturb the life of the hospital. Things get worse after a troop of soldiers, who are patrolling the border, settle in the town for a few weeks. Their commander is an unpleasant man, under whom Frank served while he was in the army before apartheid had ended.

At first, I felt that one of the two doctors was ‘The Good Doctor’ in the book’s title, but by the end of the story I was left wondering whether it was Frank or Laurence who was the good doctor. You will have to read this wonderfully written, compelling tale to be able to assess which of the two deserves your sympathy. Or are they both to be criticised?

I enjoyed this novel, the second by Galgut that I have read, and look forward to reading a third. I have a copy of his “The Promise” waiting close by.

A gripping novel written in the nineteenth century

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HERE IS A book I have greatly enjoyed reading. It is “The Bertrams” by Anthony Trollope (1815-1882). First published in 1859, this is a story that highlights some weaknesses of human behaviour, the consequences of ill-conceived decision making, and the risks taken when marrying for the wrong reason. The novel is set mainly in England, but significant parts of it take place in the Middle East, notably in Egypt and the Holy Land.

 

The main characters in the story are George Bertram, George’s miserly but extremely wealthy uncle, George’s cousin Arthur who attended Oxford with him, Henry Harcourt who is a little older than George, Caroline Waddington, and Adela Gauntlet. George falls in love with Caroline, and Arthur with Adela. Each man wins the heart of the lady with whom they have fallen in love. However, in both cases, there are impediments that prevent them from marrying. Eventually to George’s great dismay, Caroline marries his friend Harcourt, by now a successful lawyer and ambitious politician. But this is a marriage without love, for Harcourt has married Caroline in the hope that she will receive a huge inheritance from her grandfather, who is George Bertram’s uncle.

 

In addition to the principal characters, there are many minor characters, most of whom are important in the story. Trollope’s portrayal of these and the main protagonists is both perceptive and often rich in humour. Throughout the novel, he explores the strength and frailties of human behaviour. He also describes how nineteenth century English people behave while travelling abroad. Although my copy of the book has almost 580 pages, not including notes on the text and a long introductory essay by Geoffrey Harvey, the story never flagged. Even though I began to guess how the tale would end, it was fascinating to follow its often-surprising twists and turns on its way to the conclusion.

 

“The Bertrams” is not only a ‘page turner’, but an example of storytelling at its best.

An unusual novel by an author from Hungary

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“WAR AND WAR” is a novel by the Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai (born 1954). It was first published in 1999. It is one of the most unusual books I  have read. Not only is the subject matter often almost incomprehensible but also the style is peculiar.

The novel consists of many sections that vary in length from a few lines to several pages. Each section, apart from at the very end of the book, is one long sentence divided up into sub-sentences usually by commas, but sometimes by semi-colons.  At first, I found it difficult to read, but after a few pages, the unusual punctuation and the immensely long sentences ceased to bother me. The text flows along in a very readable way.

Essentially, the novel concerns a provincial librarian who has discovered a mysterious manuscript in the archives of a small town in Hungary. The contents of this document are often esoteric and obscure. Yet, the librarian feels that it is of such great importance that it should be made available to the world  and preserved for prosperity. To do this, the librarian leaves Hungary, and travels to New York City, where he buys a computer and transcribed the words of the document onto a website he has paid for.

So far so good. Things are not so simple as I have described. The novel describes the weird and often apparently meaningless contents of the documents and the effect that they have on the librarian and people he encounters in New York.

At times, I  found it almost impossible to follow the story. However, it has been written in such a clever way that one needs to continue reading because of the desire to know how the story will end, even if on the way there is difficult literary terrain to traverse.

If you decide to read this novel, you will need to be both patient and persistent. It is worth the effort.

A short but wonderful novel by Aldous Huxley

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“… WHAT IS READING but a vice, like drink or venery or any other form of excessive self-indulgence? One reads to tickle and amuse one’s mind…”

These are the words of the verbose Mr Scogan in “Crome Yellow”, a novel by Aldous Huxley (1894-1963). With novels such as this one, reading is certain to become an incurable addiction, if not a vice. First published in 1921, only a few years after the end of WW1 this short novel is not only highly entertaining and extremely witty but almost completely un-put-downable.

Huxley was 27 years old when he published “Crome Yellow”. It begins when a young man, Denis, aspiring to be a poet arrives, at Crome, a stately home where various other guests have come to spend time during the summer. The book and the stately home contain a wealth of characters whose conversations and interactions with one another provide the reader with a wealth of entertaining situations. The author manages to convey the social atmosphere prevailing amongst the upper classes immediately after WW1, as well as presenting a range of philosophical ideas both about life and art. He managed to do this with a lightness of touch that makes even the most abstruse of ideas become easily digestible by the reader.

Every now and then, Mr Wimbush, the current head of the Crome household, reads extracts from the history of the house and its aristocratic inhabitants, which has taken him 30 years to complete. These are highly entertaining. Throughout the novel, Jenny, who is almost completely deaf, scribbles away in her notebook. What she had been entering into it is surprising, and only revealed near the end of the book.  Other characters include several young ladies, Mrs Wimbush who believes in mysticism and spiritualism, Mr Scogan who cannot stop talking and has an opinion about everything, Mr Bodiham the village priest, the artist Mr Gombauld, and the spiritualist Mr Barbecue-Smith. Throughout the story, a young lady, Anne, is the object of attention by both Denis and the French artist. Between these characters and others in the book, you can be sure that Denis’s stay at Crome was anything but dull.

I picked up my copy of “Crome Yellow” at a charity shop, and am extremely glad I did. I have not enjoyed a novel as much as this one for quite a few years. I hope to read more of Huxley’s novels in the future.

Chikkamma Tours (Pvt.) Ltd: a detective story set in Bangalore

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THIS BOOK WAS RECOMMENDED to me by a bookseller in Bangalore, at Bookworm, because she said that the shop is mentioned in the book. In the novel, Chikkamma Tours is a small travel company located beneath a bookshop run by Jagat Desai. One night, he is murdered. His body is found the next morning by one of the ladies who work in the office beneath the bookshop. The police are informed, but the three women who work at Chikkamma Tours decide to make their own investigation of the murder. What they discovered about themselves and the crime are the subjects of this ‘whodunnit’ novel.

Although I enjoyed reading it, this book is not a great work of literature. However, it was fun and I liked it because it captures many aspects of life in a city I visit frequently: Bangalore. As I proceeded through it, I recognised many things I know about the city and, especially, its bookshops.

Would I recommend this book? I would to Bangaloreans and to people who know the city well. However, I am uncertain that it would appeal to those who have little or no connection with the city. That said, I am pleased that the lady at Bookworm suggested I should read it.

Epic narration and a great plot: it would make exciting cinema

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THE GORDON RIOTS which occurred in London in 1780 were a reaction to a law passed in 1778. The law gave rights to Roman Catholics and aroused the hostility of no-papists (anti-Catholics). The disturbances,  which resulted in much destruction of property in London were instigated by the hateful propaganda of Lord George Gordon (1751-1793).

 

I first became interested in the Gordon Riots when I was writing my book about Hampstead and its surroundings. The rioters headed out of London towards Hampstead on their way to Lord Mansfield’s country house at Kenwood.  Mansfield’s house in London’s Bloomsbury district had just been razed to the ground by the riotous mob, and they had hoped to do the same thing at Kenwood.  Fortunately, they were stopped just before they reached Mansfield’s country mansion.

 Given my interest in the above-mentioned,  I  was excited to find that Charles Dickens had written a novel about the riots: “Barnaby Rudge”. It was first published in 1841.

 

Barnaby Rudge is a peculiar character, a simpleton whose best friend is a talking raven. At first, it was not obvious to me why the novel should bear his name, but slowly his importance in this complex tale becomes evident.  Although his role is important, there are a large number of other equally important characters woven into the plot.

 

Dickens explores the private antagonisms between some individuals as well as attractions between others, and gradually weaves these relationships into the ever increasing rumblings that develop into riots and mindless destruction.

 

Dickens wrote long before cinematography was invented, yet his written descriptions of both peaceful scenes and incredible chaos have a vividness and impact that much modern cinema (especially some blockbuster Bollywood productions) are able to throw at their audiences.  And Dickens does this with words alone: without Dolby sound and dramatic photography.

 

In brief, I  found “Barnaby Rudge” to be a veritable tour-de-force. My enjoyment of the book was enhanced by the fact that the Penguin edition I was reading was richly supplied with notes (mainly historical) researched and written by Gordon Spence.

 

Before reading “Barnaby Rudge”, I knew that the Gordon Riots were a fairly horrendous episode in British history.  However, Dickens, who was writing just 40 years after they had occurred and might have known people who had witnessed them, brought this age of turmoil to life in a credibly dramatic way.